Pioneer, dir. David Lowery (short, 2011)
Bonus Bonus. This short blew my mind. Parts & Labor turned me on to it, having befriended the director & producers at SXSW and Sundance and now I’m eager for whatever David Lowery will do next. This is the most intimate, believable, mysterious bedtime story a father (Will Oldham) could tell his son (four-year-old Myles Brooks), and Mr. Lowery filmed it in service to the key idea: “The story is great, but the movie is more about the fact that he is telling it.” The camera never leaves the bedroom, but the craft of cuts and natural beats between the boy and his father wil put a spell on you.
Bugcrush, dir. Carter Smith, dp. Darren Lew, 2007
This is one supreme short film. Skip the trailer and zip straight to watch the whole 36 min. It’s something to experience blind. DP extraordinaire, Darren Lew, puts up the frame that feels so right for each scene’s mood. The pacing is foreboding, and the teenage actors are so real and nuanced. Sexual, subversive, strange. Carter Smith (you might know his fashion photography), bravo. You can watch the whole film online.
